And this is what I looked like on Sunday, which was one month and one day after surgery.

I can see some differences. Until now, most of the progress I’ve seen has been on the scale, but looking at the photos, I can definitely see that I’m losing weight. The roll of fat on the back of my neck is noticeably smaller. So are my calves (although this isn’t really noticeable in the top photo). And my stomach? Looking good. My shirt looks much flatter (Footnote 1).

I am still waiting to see improvements in my forearms and under my chin, but I’m sure that will come with time.

Footnote1. It’s a 3XL Mickey Mouse polo shirt that I bought at the gift store at Animal Kingdom many years ago. I had stashed it under the bed many years ago, because it no longer fit but I liked it enough to keep it. As you can see, it now fits again. I have a white one too, and a few more 3XL shirts I had squirreled away.

I never expected to lose weight like magic after the weight-loss surgery. The weight would come off quickly, I knew, mainly through a combination of lifestyle change and a very limited diet.

But it sure seems like magic.

This morning, on the scale, I realized that I had lost slightly more than 10 pounds in the 10 days since my surgery. That’s about a pound a day. I know this is an unsustainable rate of weight loss; it will slow down as I add more foods into my diet, and plateaus are inevitable. But this is amazing. And, for someone who has been stuck in a certain weight zone for several years, it feels pretty darn good.

So, you might be wondering why I haven’t disclosed my weight so far on this blog. After all, I’ve been an open book about everything else.

I don’t have a good answer why. It just hasn’t felt right.

When I started gaining a lot of weight, I kept the number a secret. I didn’t even tell the Complementary Spouse. I didn’t step on scales for months at a time, knowing that the number would make me feel like a failure.

So, after years of practice hiding my weight, it simply feels weird for me to share this number. I will tell you that I think, at my heaviest, I was well over 350 pounds in 2014. It may have been over 360 pounds. I don’t know the exact number, as I avoided the scale during that period. The number has certainly come down since then, but I’m still not proud about it.

I think I will begin writing about my weight once I hit certain milestones. I have a target weight in mind, but I don’t want to make it public in case I don’t reach it. It’s an ambitious goal, but it’s not unrealistic.

Here is a picture of me at my heaviest. Look at my face. It is nearly as wide as it is tall. And the temples of my glasses are stretched as far as they’ll go.